The L.A. Times music blog

The Week That Will Be (In Shows)

We hear there's some sort of a concert in Indio this weekend that a few kids are going to, but if you're L.A.-bound this week, here is some teen-pop, dad rock and noisenik punk for your perusal.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: On his greatest albums, Springsteen rode the energies of different styles through peaks and valleys, aurally encapsulating late 20th century Americana with a rain shower of guitars and a howlin' whoop. But whatever die-hards might say, the album era is over. "Working on a Dream," Springsteen's 16th studio album, is not merely a response to this fact. It's partial proof. L.A. Sports Arena, 3939 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. $65 to $95. (213) 748-6136.

Wavves: Hipsters, draw your lines in the sand. Either this bedroom project of tossed-off garage rock is perfect damaged pop veiled in static so as to sweeten the sun-dazed payoff, or too enamored of its own disaffection to even care that it sounds like it was recorded in a trash can. Both camps should be out in full force. The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $10. (213) 413-8200.

Britney Spears: The mighty Aphrodite with the troublesome tawdry streak has nonetheless renewed her claim as one of the world's most adept manipulators of the public interest. One constant challenge for Spears and her collaborators is how to adapt the soft-core erotica at the heart of her self-expression to the family audience that's somehow stuck with her since she left "The All New Mickey Mouse Club." The "Circus" motif proved ideal. Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. $39.50 to $750. (213) 742-7300.

Crystal Antlers: The Long Beach psych-rock band has emerged as one of the great hopes in local music in 2009. Debut full-length "Tentacles" is a fanged, feral affair where monster-movie organs jockey among acid-damaged guitars and all sorts of howling for the front of every song. Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock. 8 p.m. Thursday. $6. (323) 226-1617.

Abe Vigoda: On its intriguing new five-song EP, "Reviver," the young Chino quartet dissolves its winsome vocal melodies in a no-wave guitar haze as it did on its 2008 breakthrough LP, "Skeleton." But this EP's slower tempos and darker timbres evoke a kind of sad, four-tracked Spector pop made in a foreclosed Inland Empire teenager's bedroom. Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake. 8:30 p.m. Saturday. $10. (323) 661-4380.